


Lesson Learned

by RosalindInPants



Category: The Great Library Series - Rachel Caine
Genre: AU - Annis lives, BDSM, F/F, F/M, Hairbrush, Punishment, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-12 19:30:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20569682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosalindInPants/pseuds/RosalindInPants
Summary: After their marriage, Khalila and Dario have come to enjoy a BDSM relationship, but they have much to learn, so they seek training from Annis. But Annis has expectations of her own after years of commanding her lovers in the Iron Tower, and it isn't only Dario who has to live up to those standards. Things go badly at a party the three attend together, and now Khalila must face her punishment.





	Lesson Learned

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheGreatLibraryFangirl (Mazeem)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mazeem/gifts).

> Happy birthday, Maz!
> 
> For background, this is a glimpse of a larger story that might have come to pass if Annis had survived in canon. I have not bothered to delve too far into background here, as the loss of Annis made me shift my larger kink fic plans. All you need to know is that Dario and Khalila are training in techniques of dominance and submission with Annis, and they have agreed ahead of time to any punishments Annis wants to dole out. Dario is a submissive masochist. Khalila is dominant and very much not a masochist. Annis is Annis, the undisputed expert in all things sexual. Khalila and Dario have, obviously, opened their marriage sufficiently to let Annis in.

“Well. That certainly could have gone better,” Annis said, holding the door to her room for Khalila and Dario. As soon as they were through and the door locked behind them, she continued, “On your knees, then, and tell me what you’ve done wrong.”

Dario, to his credit, dropped immediately and gracefully into the stance Annis had taught him. Posture straight, knees parted, hands behind his back, eyes on her feet. Beautiful, in his formal jacket and trousers. “I failed to obey my lady,” he said. “My outburst shamed us all, and I am prepared to accept any additional punishment you feel necessary.”

Khalila swelled with pride at the sight of him so humble and obedient. His behavior at the party had, as he said, been shameful, but he was trying to do better, and that was what mattered.

She was preparing to argue against any additional punishment for Dario when Annis shook her head, a disappointed frown adding to her wrinkles.

“_You _aren’t the one who needs to be on your knees, my dear boy. Go to the chair. You may rest there until we are through with this unpleasant business.”

Dario blinked, the shock evident on his face as he looked up at them both. “But, Lady Annis, I-”

Annis went to him and stroked her fingers through the loose curls of his hair. "Shh, dear boy, you have not earned my ire tonight. You have been very, very good, and taken more punishment for it than you deserved. Now go and sit."

“Yes, Lady Annis.” Dario bowed low enough that his forehead almost touched the floor before scrambling backward to the chair.

“Now, then,” Annis said, her frown deepening as she turned to Khalila. “Why are _you_ still standing?”

No less confused than Dario, Khalila stammered out an apology as she dropped to her knees, the skirts of her gown falling awkwardly around her. She wasn’t as good at this as Dario. She didn’t need to be. This submission to Annis was a temporary measure, a requirement of their lessons, but hardly something she intended to continue once they’d learned all Annis had to teach.

“Well, get on with it. What have you done wrong, young lady?”

“I don’t know,” she said. It took real effort to keep her eyes down when every instinct screamed for her to rise to her feet and argue Annis’s judgment. But those weren’t the terms they’d agreed to. She had to keep up her end of the bargain. She was here to learn.

Annis said nothing, leaving Khalila to frantically review the night’s events. They’d gone to the party hosted by one of the secret Scholars’ societies. Watched the demonstration of rope work and sat down for drinks. Dario had been uncommonly fidgety all evening, and she'd had to correct him more often than usual. It had come to a head when a man in a lion mask came over to their table and addressed Dario in Spanish, and quite suddenly he’d jumped to his feet to swear at the man, defying not only his orders, but all common sense. She’d put an immediate stop to it, of course, though the damage was already done, and the Scholar had left in a huff. She could only hope he had not recognized either of them beneath their masks. And then she had corrected Dario with the strap Annis had just taught her to use. After the punishment, they’d finished their drinks and departed. Annis hadn’t said a word about any of it until now.

“Did I use the strap too hard?” She wished she could look up to see the state of Dario’s arms. She didn’t think she’d hit too hard.

“You used the strap at all, girl, without cause or consideration.”

That made the spark of anger in Khalila flare up to a full blaze, and without thinking, she let her head snap up. “Without cause? You know Spanish, Lady Annis, you cannot tell me that what he said was at all acceptable!”

Annis’s slap made her cheek sting and brought tears to her eyes. “That will be enough of that. Back in position with you. _Now_.” She waited until Khalila had her head lowered before continuing. “I do know Spanish, little girl who imagines herself a lady, and that means that I know what that man said to your boy. Do you?”

The shame struck Khalila harder than the slap. The conversation had been too quick for her to follow with her limited knowledge of the language. “I do not.” She wanted to ask if anything could possibly have justified Dario’s swearing, but she knew better, with the chill of failure coursing through her veins. She knew not to dig her hole any deeper.

“He recognized Dario’s signet ring, and took the opportunity to insult Dario’s family. Called them traitors to the Library, snakes whispering treason and heresy in the Archivist's ears. Most likely, the fool thought he was speaking to some lesser servant of the family; I doubt he would have spoken so had he known Dario for who he was.”

Rage flared again, not at Annis this time, but at the Scholar, and then at herself. She’d just punished Dario for standing up for himself and his family. For _her_. His poorly chosen language seemed a small thing, compared to that. And she’d beaten him for it, caused him pain he neither deserved nor wanted. She was supposed to ask him to explain his behavior when he disobeyed. She was supposed to forgive him when there were mitigating circumstances. Too late, she understood the purpose of the rules she had neglected to follow.

Her greatest fear, back when Dario had first proposed his submission to her, was that she might hurt him in her efforts to give him the dominance he needed. And she had done it without even knowing it, thinking herself in the right.

"Go on," Annis prompted. "Ask him."

The rage cooled to icy shame, and she lifted her eyes to meet Dario's. "Is this true, my love?"

He nodded. "That is what he said, yes." He sounded shaken, more than seemed reasonable given the situation.

The pieces fit together in her mind. The man had been near them all evening, never too far away in the crowd. "You knew him. His presence there made you nervous. Who was he?"

"I-I wouldn't go so far as to say I know him, my lady, but I know his ilk. The symbol on his mask? That is a group of dissidents opposed to my homeland's renewed ties with the Library. He was not the only one there to wear it."

Khalila felt lightheaded, and very grateful indeed that their peacock masks had covered their faces so fully. If such people had recognized her there... "Oh, Dario, I am so, so sorry."

Annis’s hand on her head was gentle, and careful not to disturb her hijab. That was one of the limits they had agreed on, at the beginning of all this. “Good, little lady, very good. You know your own error, and that is essential to what comes next. You do know what comes next, do you not?” Her hand moved beneath Khalila’s chin to lift her head, guiding her upright.

Blinking the tears away, Khalila met Annis’s eyes. She would conduct herself honorably for this, much as she hated it. She owed Dario that, after he so obediently took the strap he hadn’t deserved. “I will accept any punishment you deem appropriate for my behavior, Lady Annis.”

A hint of a smile flickered across Annis’s face. “Good girl. Up you get, and over the desk.”

This, too, felt awkward to Khalila. It wasn’t her place to be bent over like this, her bottom sticking out and Dario looking wide-eyed at her from the chair. But, that, too, was part of the punishment, and she could not dispute the fact that she'd earned it.

She saw Dario's mouth open, then close, then open again, and at last he said, “Lady Annis, may I have permission to speak?”

Annis paused with her hand clenched around the hem of Khalila’s skirt. “Go on.”

“My lady does not require punishment,” Dario said, sitting straight up. “I disobeyed orders when I used the foul and inappropriate language that I used, regardless of provocation. If she was overly hasty in administering my punishment, the lesson is already learned.”

Khalila thought her heart might burst to hear him defend her. Annis, though, seemed decidedly less impressed. “That is terribly sweet of you, dear boy, but she knew the consequences when she entered into this arrangement as well as you did. She earned the punishment, and she will take it. She must learn to treat you with the respect and consideration that your submission deserves, even when you do not remember to respect yourself.” 

Dario closed his mouth. Stunned into silence, Khalila suspected.

Annis flipped Khalila’s skirt up and tugged down her underwear, leaving her feeling dreadfully exposed. Blood rushed to her cheeks, and she wished she had turned her head away from Dario when she bent over, but it was too late for that. She expected Annis to take the strap she had used on Dario, but instead Annis reached past her to take a hairbrush from the desk.

Dario slumped back in his seat, the relief on his face evident. “Thank you, Lady Annis, for showing her this mercy.”

A devious grin spread across Annis’s face. “You think this is a mercy, do you?”

“It’s a hairbrush. That has to hurt less than the strap,” Dario stammered.

“You have no idea what I can do with this hairbrush, dear boy,” Annis said. “Get a good grip on the desk, little lady. Whatever your boy might think, I assure you that this will hurt.”

Khalila wrapped her hands as tightly as she could around the edges of the desk and clenched her jaw, bracing herself for the blow. It wasn’t enough. The hairbrush whistled through the air, and pain bloomed across her bare bottom. She shrieked.

Dario cringed, his fingers going pale on the chair as he gripped the arms.

She drew in a shaky breath to say, “Thank you, Lady Annis.”

_Smack._

Another burst of pain, another cry. “Thank you, Lady Annis.” She wished she had been given a count. When Annis demonstrated tools on her, there was always a count, a goal to carry her through the pain. But now there was only the whistle and smack of the hairbrush, and the wide rectangles of agony it left on her skin.

She hadn’t given Dario a count, either.

_Smack_.

She barely got her thanks out this time. Her tears were overflowing, and she hurt too much to be embarrassed about them. Dario's worried face blurred in her vision, but not so much that she couldn't feel his eyes on her. His silent support.

_Smack._

She couldn't take this. It was too much pain, too intense. The word to bring it to a stop itched on her tongue, but she swallowed it. She deserved this. Dario hadn't stopped her when she took the strap to him.

_Smack._

There were, she thought, ten blows in all, and she was sobbing by the end of them, her thanks for the final blow all but incomprehensible. Her bottom was on fire, every inch of skin burning with a deep, penetrating ache. Not a hint of pleasure in it. Unlike Dario, she had never been able to enjoy pain, and she doubted he would have enjoyed this much more than she did. It was too much.

And yet, there was catharsis in it. A release of the guilt and shame that had come with understanding of her error. She was bent over a desk with her reddened rump on display, with tears in her eyes and cries on her lips. What shame was left for her to feel? The pain had wiped her slate clean.

She almost laughed when Annis caressed her aching behind, though the touch felt like fire. “I think you’ve learned your lesson, haven’t you, dear?” The affection in the older woman’s voice told her that she really was forgiven.

“Yes, Lady Annis. Thank you, Lady Annis.”

Annis leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Good girl.” When she straightened, she beckoned to Dario. “Come now, boy. Attend to your lady. I will give the two of you as much time as you require, but when you are done, I would like to see you both in the bedroom.” That wasn’t a request. The command was evident in Annis’s voice, even as she gave Khalila a soft pat on the cheek before striding from the room. Regal with every step, an example for Khalila to aspire to, far as that goal seemed from her current position.

And then Dario was on his knees behind her, lips and tongue on burning skin, working his way downward until he inspired an entirely different sort of burning, one that let her forget the pain, if only for the time it took his tongue to do its work. Better than the pleasure of his tongue, though, was the relief of his forgiveness.


End file.
